New blue

I wish I could say that this shot is part of some larger exploration - of color or texture or whatever - that I have been diligently working on. It was, in truth, a happy accident.

I was on the back porch with my camera, nothing in particular in mind. I bumped against a broken glass ornament that was hanging near a bird feeder - please don’t ask me why it was there, I haven’t a clue. I flinched in reaction to the minor collision and noticed the ornament for the first time. Apparently it’s been hanging on the back porch for quite some time and it hadn’t registered. A lesson there…

So I took a few shots. I just happened to have the macro lens on the camera (that’s the one designed for close-up work), so I got lucky. Several times over, come to think of it!

Same eyes, different vision...

Aside from Jamaica Pond, the place I spend the most time walking and looking and shooting, is Woods Hole most often in the off season. We went last weekend, a combination of getting the place ready for summer rentals and relaxation.

I haven’t been there since last November and, as we went on many of our favorite walks, I was seeing somewhat familiar scenes through somewhat different eyes. The edge of Jamaica Pond was transformed into the edge of the water at Nobska Beach or tide pools among the rocks near Gansett.

It was an exhilarating experience - seeing new images in familiar settings. I’m not sure but I think these new images, one of which you are looking at, have a place in my “pond edge” portfolio - visually if not intellectually.

This is still new - I’m still processing the zillion images from that weekend - and I need to think about how they fit in with my work. We’ll see…

Wall

It’s odd. I walk down this street virtually every day; I’ve seen this wall by the community garden whenever I’ve passed it. Yet it was only yesterday that I took the time to really look - and shoot - the wall.

I was overcome by the textures and the colors and the shapes and the way that the cement repair, one that I had never really cared for (too messy!), seemed to be a frozen river of texture that brought the entire composition - I mean wall - together.

I guess it’s the same lesson I seem to keep on needing to learn - we are surrounded by drama and beauty in forms we have yet to notice. Can I slow down sufficiently to see? I mean, more often? Yes, that’s my intention!

Unintentional sculpture

Lately my focus for shooting has been focused on the edges of Jamaica Pond - first with water at the shoreline and over the winter with ice and a bit of snow. It’s been a revelation to me. So much to look at, such room for color and texture. I love it.

One of my other interests is human or natural garbage - composting leaves, rusted hinges, things that are broken or usually considered unsightly. Yet framed, they can often highlight beauty that otherwise goes unnoticed. I have several portfolios of images like that, so if it sounds interesting, let me know and I’ll share some jpegs.

This image is in that vein. I’ve been by this pole many times on the way to the Pond or to the grocery store. Today it seemed like a sculpture. I like it. No reason to say more than that…

Clouds in the water

A bit incongruous, seeing clouds in the water; even more so when the clouds turn to smoke. How can one relatively realistic photograph create such visual confusion? That's the mystery...

I’m amazed what the camera shows me. When I shot this, I saw the clouds reflected in the water. But I was more interested in the interplay of branches and leaves. Then when I saw the shot larger, I realized that the interest was in the wispy cloud made wispy by the moving water. The interplay of reflection and object was the name of the game.

Boundary

Walking around the Pond this afternoon for the first time in a while. Now it’s warm enough that the ice is melting, the water and ice now share the Pond. And that boundary between the two is what I find most interesting.

I love the fine texture of the ice. It gets that way as it’s melting. Contrasted with the smooth water, quite a delight to look at. I can imagine it as something I might see from an airplane - scale is such fun to play with!

Interestingly, This shot is virtually monochromatic although it was shot in color. At first I processed it to enhance the color but eventually decided to go with what it was telling me, which was that it might as well be black & white, which is pretty much is.

Odd perspective

What I love about this image is the confusion between the reflections in the water and the actual objects being reflected - which you mostly cannot see in this frame. The confusion is aided by the ice in the background, which doesn’t reflect the hillside, thus adding an element of mystery - what am I looking at?

I love when winter subsides sufficiently to allow the ice on the Pond to melt. The mix of water and ice, reflective and opaque surfaces, makes for some very interesting image possibilities. This is one…

Welcome...

I’ve been writing blog posts on my web site for probably more than a decade. I’m not sure whether anyone but me reads them… But I keep doing it. Mostly it’s a way to reflect with words on what I’m seeing. Often the words aren’t needed but there are times when words do things that images can’t.

And sometimes I write about other aspects of my life, things that are engaging me or putting me off or otherwise having an impact on me.

And sometimes I share pictures that fall out of the realm of “fine art photography” including numerous shots of my beloved Desmond, here is Groucho disguise…

So we’ll see what comes to me in this new venue. And thanks for reading…